GO BEYOND THE GUNMEN: DISMANTLE THE ENTIRE ARCHITECTURE OF GANG VIOLENCE IN HAITI
GO BEYOND THE GUNMEN: DISMANTLE THE ENTIRE ARCHITECTURE OF GANG VIOLENCE IN HAITI
A Public Appeal to President Nayib Armando Bukele Ortez and All Security Partners Operating in Haiti
By Wilsonn Telimo Lwi,
President of ITIYAyiti
KÒTAKÒT for an Autonomous Haiti
November 1, 2026
Haiti’s security crisis will not be resolved merely by killing or arresting armed young men in impoverished neighborhoods. Those individuals may represent the most visible face of criminal violence, but they do not constitute the entire system.
Behind every heavily armed organization stands a broader structure that may include commanders, arms suppliers, financial intermediaries, corrupt officials, political protectors, money launderers, commercial facilitators, and individuals who benefit from instability.
If President Nayib Armando Bukele Ortez and Salvadoran security personnel genuinely intend to help dismantle Haiti’s gang system, they must understand one essential principle:
The person holding the gun is only one link in the criminal chain. Justice must reach every link.
Do Not Begin With Collective Arrests—Begin With Evidence
Some Haitians understandably demand the immediate arrest of former presidents, ministers, senators, business leaders, oligarchs, and other influential individuals who have been named in sanctions decisions or international reports.
The anger behind that demand is understandable. For decades, ordinary Haitians have watched street-level perpetrators face public condemnation while politically connected actors often appear beyond the reach of justice.
However, neither foreign soldiers nor Haitian authorities should arrest every former president or political leader merely because of a title, rumor, media publication, or political association.
Responsibility must be individual.
A person’s appearance in an international report or sanctions list may justify closer scrutiny, financial investigation, asset restrictions, or the opening of a criminal inquiry. It does not automatically constitute a criminal conviction.
Canada’s Haiti sanctions regime targets designated political and economic figures whom the Canadian government alleges have supported gangs, facilitated corruption, trafficked weapons or drugs, or undermined Haiti’s peace and security. These measures can freeze assets and prohibit financial dealings, but they remain administrative sanctions—not substitutes for a criminal trial.
The United Nations sanctions system similarly authorizes travel restrictions, asset freezes, and other measures against designated individuals and entities involved in violence, arms trafficking, illicit financial flows, or support for criminal networks. It also establishes a Panel of Experts to gather and assess evidence.
Therefore, the proper demand is not:
“Arrest everyone whose name has ever appeared in a report.”
The proper demand is:
Open independent investigations into every credible allegation, follow the evidence without political protection, obtain lawful warrants, prosecute provable crimes, and guarantee a fair trial.
A Foreign Army Must Not Become Haiti’s Police, Prosecutor, Judge, and Executioner
Salvadoran forces cannot lawfully decide on their own who is guilty, arrest political figures without proper authority, or substitute military judgment for an independent justice system.
Any arrest must rest on:
a clearly established legal mandate;
credible and individualized evidence;
a warrant or other lawful judicial authorization;
a documented chain of custody;
protection against torture or disappearance;
access to legal representation;
and presentation before a competent and independent court.
Foreign military personnel must not become Haiti’s police officers, prosecutors, judges, and executioners simultaneously.
Their legitimate role should be to help protect civilians, rescue endangered personnel, support lawful Haitian institutions, secure critical infrastructure, share intelligence, and assist properly authorized investigations.
When evidence implicates a former president, minister, senator, police official, customs officer, businessperson, arms broker, diplomat, or gang commander, that person must face the same law. Political status must not create immunity, but public anger must not replace proof.
Follow the Criminal Chain From the Streets to the Offices of Power
A serious investigation must ask more than who fired a weapon.
It must determine:
Who purchased the weapon?
Who financed the transaction?
Who organized its shipment?
Who allowed it to pass through customs?
Who supplied ammunition?
Who provided vehicles, fuel, communications, or intelligence?
Who laundered kidnapping and extortion proceeds?
Who warned gang leaders about police operations?
Who interfered with investigations?
Who benefited politically or economically from territorial instability?
United Nations reporting has documented the continuing expansion of gangs, their access to illicit weapons despite the arms embargo, and the devastating effects of their violence on civilians. The UN sanctions framework expressly covers people who support criminal violence, illicit arms flows, and the financing of designated actors.
Canada has also imposed sanctions on specific members of Haiti’s political and economic elites based on allegations that they provided financial or operational support to armed gangs or engaged in significant corruption.
These official actions demonstrate that Haiti’s crisis cannot be reduced to young men carrying weapons in the streets. But sanctions should become starting points for evidence-based judicial investigations—not automatic declarations of guilt.
Establish an Independent Investigative Task Force
The first strategic step should be the creation of a properly authorized investigative task force composed of:
vetted Haitian judicial police officers;
independent Haitian prosecutors and magistrates;
financial-intelligence specialists;
customs and maritime investigators;
forensic experts;
arms-trafficking specialists;
witness-protection personnel;
and international observers capable of monitoring legality and integrity.
This task force should review credible material from:
the United Nations Panel of Experts;
Canadian, American, European, and other sanctions authorities;
Haitian judicial proceedings;
financial-intelligence reports;
customs and shipping records;
telephone and electronic communications;
court testimony;
weapons-tracing evidence;
and verified investigative journalism.
Its purpose should not be political revenge. Its purpose should be determining whether evidence supports criminal charges.
No suspect should be protected because of political office, wealth, skin color, family name, nationality, diplomatic relationships, or connections to foreign governments.
Likewise, no person should be arrested simply because that person belongs to a political party, business family, social class, or government administration.
Give Suspected Sponsors an Opportunity to Answer Before the Law
When credible evidence links an influential person to an armed organization, that individual should be required to answer specific questions before competent judicial authorities:
What relationship did the individual have with the named gang or its leaders?
Were money, weapons, vehicles, communications, or protection provided?
Were public funds or private companies used to support criminal activities?
Did the individual benefit from kidnappings, territorial control, customs fraud, extortion, or political intimidation?
Did the individual obstruct investigations or protect suspects?
Which additional actors participated in the network?
If the evidence supports criminal charges, the authorities should seek lawful arrest, prosecution, asset freezing, and—following conviction—penalties authorized by law.
If the evidence is insufficient, the person must not be publicly treated as guilty.
Justice loses credibility when powerful people receive immunity. But it also loses credibility when accusations become convictions without a trial.
Target the Money, Weapons, and Protection Networks
The criminal system will survive if authorities arrest gunmen while leaving its money and weapons untouched.
A sustainable strategy must:
trace firearms and ammunition recovered in Haiti;
identify purchasers, exporters, shipping agents, and recipients;
examine suspicious bank transfers and cash movements;
freeze assets connected to kidnappings, extortion, trafficking, and corruption;
investigate companies used to conceal illicit transactions;
strengthen controls at seaports, airports, customs offices, and land borders;
protect investigators, judges, witnesses, and journalists;
prosecute officials who leak operational information;
enforce the international arms embargo;
and publish measurable results without compromising active investigations.
The United Nations sanctions regime already provides mechanisms for asset freezes, travel restrictions, and action against people who finance violence or facilitate illicit arms flows. In October 2026, the Security Council renewed these measures and extended the mandate of the Panel of Experts.
These mechanisms should be connected to criminal investigations capable of producing admissible evidence and fair judicial proceedings.
Do Not Criminalize Haiti’s Poor
Gang-controlled communities contain victims, not merely perpetrators.
Children who cannot attend school, mothers crossing dangerous streets, displaced families, workers trapped behind barricades, and young people resisting recruitment are not enemies.
Security forces must never assume that every young man in a poor neighborhood is a gang member.
Operations must be intelligence-led and directed toward identified threats. Civilians should receive protection, evacuation routes, medical assistance, and mechanisms for reporting misconduct.
The use of force must remain lawful, necessary, and proportionate. Lethal force must never serve as punishment or political theater.
A mission that arrests or kills poor residents while protecting wealthy sponsors would reproduce the very injustice it claims to fight.
Reform the Haitian State Rather Than Destroying It
Haiti’s institutions have been weakened by corruption, political interference, inadequate resources, and impunity. Nevertheless, the solution cannot be to erase the Haitian State or transfer permanent authority to foreign forces.
The objective must be to separate legitimate public institutions from individuals who may have captured or corrupted them.
That requires:
vetting officials assigned to sensitive positions;
auditing public institutions;
examining unexplained wealth and conflicts of interest;
suspending compromised officials while investigations proceed;
protecting honest public servants;
recruiting qualified personnel;
strengthening courts and prosecutorial offices;
and establishing transparent systems of public accountability.
No lasting security plan can succeed if gangs are dismantled today, but the same corrupt institutions recreate them tomorrow.
Security and Social Prevention Must Advance Together
Immediate protection is necessary. Schools, hospitals, markets, roads, and homes must function again.
But force alone will not prevent criminal networks from recruiting replacements.
Haiti must simultaneously invest in:
public education;
vocational training;
lawful employment;
youth entrepreneurship;
community development;
mental-health services;
rehabilitation where appropriate;
and social justice.
Poverty does not excuse murder, kidnapping, rape, or extortion. But extreme poverty, unemployment, exclusion, and the absence of public services create conditions that criminal networks exploit.
We must not use social conditions as an excuse to ignore crime. We must not use a war against gangs as an excuse to ignore the conditions that continually reproduce them.
My Appeal to President Bukele
President Nayib Armando Bukele Ortez:
Do not measure success only by the number of gunmen captured or killed.
Measure it by:
civilians protected;
kidnapped people rescued;
territories restored to lawful public authority;
arms-trafficking routes disrupted;
criminal assets frozen or seized;
financiers and protectors lawfully prosecuted;
schools and hospitals reopened;
displaced families able to return safely;
and Haitian institutions made stronger.
Do not allow a security mission to punish communities for crimes committed against them.
Do not confuse poverty with criminality.
Do not protect powerful actors while pursuing only expendable young men.
Do not replace gang rule with arbitrary military power.
Follow the evidence from the streets to the ports, banks, businesses, political offices, and international networks that sustain the violence.
Conclusion: Strike the System at Its Source
Haiti does not need collective arrests, extrajudicial executions, or indiscriminate military operations.
It needs equal justice.
That means prosecuting street-level perpetrators while also investigating commanders, arms traffickers, corrupt officials, financial sponsors, political protectors, and economic beneficiaries.
Our conclusion must be clear:
Do not merely strike the armed branches of the criminal system. Follow the evidence to its roots.
Freedom will not come from vengeance. It will come from truth, lawful accountability, institutional reform, and the protection of human dignity.
Let us fight for Haiti through justice.
Let us live for Haiti through service.
Let us build a country where neither gang leaders nor powerful sponsors stand above the law.
Wilsonn Telimo Lwi,
President of ITIYAyiti,
KÒTAKÒT for an Autonomous Haiti
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